A man dubbed the 'midnight miner' has been found guilty of staking a claim on a multi-million-dollar uranium deposit without approval from the Northern Territory Government.

In December 2006, Norm McCleary pegged out claims on the Angela and Pamela uranium deposits near Alice Springs just after the midnight expiry of Government restrictions.

He then applied to the Northern NT Department to explore the site twice - even though his pegging had been refused approval by the department.

McCleary was not in court this morning as he was found guilty of 28 charges under the Mines Act, and his case was set for sentencing in January.